I’m always skeptical when a film receives too much hype. With the on-again, off-again quality of American fare, I try not to set my hopes too high, especially when it comes to a film about the D.C. Comics's The Joker, by the director of “The Hangover” series.

It is with great pleasure that I report that, while the film itself isn’t the cinematic masterpiece that some have christened it, Todd Phillips’s “Joker” is one of the finest films of 2019 with Joaquin Phoenix delivering one of the great performances of modern cinema, and definitely his personal best.

I watched “The Hangover II” (a.k.a H2) at the multiplex [...]

[post_author_posts_link] [post_date] [post_comments] [post_edit] This week Todd Phillips’ “The Hangover [...]

Director Todd Phillips loves frat boy bonhomie. His cult hit "Old School" has taken up its spot in the "Animal House" pantheon. It would be wonderful to say that "The Hangover" captures that feeling of male bonding and ritualism, but it really doesn’t. From a friendship perspective, these guys all take their own separate cabs. If the search for a missing pal seems like an annoying distraction from a comedy routine for the men involved, why should it matter to the audience?